Originally Posted by djohannw
Absolutely. DUS has been dying for full-service-transatlantic by a major carrier so they will probably offer excellent conditions for DL to come to their turf. Add taxes that are substantially lower at DUS than both AMS and CDG the flight will operate on a much lower cost-base than anything out of AMS or CDG ever could.
Also as I mentioned some place else: With choosing ATL instead of JFK DL puts a major blow against LH. Noone else can currently offer so many one-stop destinations across the USA like DL. LH only can do a handful connections, and they just can't support bringing a BBJ (let alone a widebody) in for face-to-face competion on DUS-ATL - if DL had gone to JFK they would have just brought in a 332 replacing the EWR-ACJ and dropping fares until the flight would become unviable for the competitor. So their only option is to either replace the ORD-ACJ with a widebody if they want to compete with that flight. But even with that ORD offers substantially less options (especially to the South and East) than DL at ATL.
Finally for those not knowing: DUS is right in the middle of 8 Million people living within 90 minutes of the airport with a high financial potential (e.g. rumors are that MOST LH-Hons (requires 600K butt-in-seat-miles within two years on LH/OS/LOT only) in any major metropolitan area live around DUS), so there is a decent market that can support such a flight very well. Add to that a lot of Chemical companies dying for day-freight to the USA, and you have a market that fits very well for a 763 (even for a 777 but that would suffer weight-restrictions too often).
Greetings - Dirk
While DUS was indeed trying hard to get a TATL flight, EU competition laws prohibit them from making brilliant offers and the two biggest players at DUS ( LT and LH with more than 50 % of the traffic will also tell them better not to offer other perks a la carte…. )
ATL is way too far south to offer good connections with the exception of Florida, but that is where the yield is the lowest in the US and where LT is a very established player.Virtually no point to point demand to ATL, a big disadvantage as well....
In addition to that I did not mean the cost structure for pax, but the one of DL operating one single flight ex DUS which is simply terrible in comparison to fly planes via Sky hubs.
The fuel bill alone will be significantly higher than flying via the hubs and spread the load on AF/KL...
LH is smart enough to realise that the BBJ and AEJ are doing fine and since LH is wet leasing the plane ( although Private Air demands more money ) Private Air has significantly higher risks than LH. Establishing a 330/340 at DUS with no crew base ( although some LH A 330/340 pilots may live in the area ) and maintenance for the plane at DUS is not really smart business.
Originally Posted by rcs85551
In the past, most DL fares allowed interlining on LH to/from MUC/FRA/DUS. Early this year, LH renegotiated their interline agreement with DL and was only willing to settle at significantly higher remuneration.
Hence, most DL fares now prohibit travel on LH - and they also prohibit travel on KL for the same reason.
Getting pax to DUS on DI will cost DL much less money than on LH/KL, and probably even less than to get pax to CDG on AF. Their cost is significantly lower, and the frequent flights to/from DUS on DI offer many connection options.
I do not have any clue why you consider their move insane... (apart from the fact that you obviously do not like DL at all).
It is insane to even start all the work to have an agreement with DI in place, because DI can maybe offer MUC ( already a DL destination ) and that`s it.All other destinations are not served frequently enough.
The assumption that connecting on KL/AF is more expensive for DL than on DI is simply not correct.
Originally Posted by djohannw
ATL is a little different in my opinion with superior connections to the DL-network and the cargo-friendly flight times. Orders from all over the USA can be at their destination the next day with ample processing-time over night in Germany - especially for specialty chemicals a very interesting perspective.
Greetings - Dirk
The restrictions for flying cargo across the pond have reached an all time high and will even become more restrictive it seems, beside that you have FedEx doing the CGN-MEM route...
IMO there is no chance for DL surviving on their own.DL is desperately opening new intercontinental routes, however still have an inferior cost structure to the competition, which may have higher CASM, but can equal those disadvantages with seamless connections and profit sharing agreements.
As much as I would love to see a daily nonstop ex DUS on Sky or *, it will not happen as long as LH is flying the BBJ and AEJ ( taking away around 80 C pax alone daily )
I would see CO doing it without LH flying the EWR route, cause NYC is a point to point market as well, but LT jumped on the bandwagen, however they are still in dire straits...